In this thrilling, pitch perfect, mini epic, Tad Williams lays the groundwork for a new story cycle in his old world of Osten Ard after a 20-year absence.

The Norns, mysterious northern elves with magical powers, have failed to drive the short-lived, fecund and brutish humans from their lands and are in full retreat to their mountain stronghold of Nakkiga.

The pursuing humans, led by warlord Isgrimnur, know they have momentum and fate on their side, but are wary of the Norns’ magical powers and face the onset of winter.

There are bloody battles, back stories and, most interestingly, sympathetic characters on both sides to give insight into the conflict and add fascinating layers of complexity to the story.

Fans of Tad Williams will delight in this new addition to his work — new readers could not have a better introduction.

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For many of us, China represents every shade of otherness: from cliches of exoticism through to alienating modernity.

How fascinating, then, to explore how China sees itself and its own future in this brilliant sci-fi collection. Blade Runner meets Inception in Folding Beijing, a story in which the city re-folds itself throughout the day to reveal the various strata of society, but the narrative is beautifully rooted in a humble refuse worker’s efforts to scrabble together cash for his daughter’s school fees.

In The Three-Body Problem, gods come down to Earth . . . but only in order to retire, they claim.

With other stories ranging over social control, world-building rats and redundant robots who have outlived the humans who made them, this is a collection that will stimulate and delight.

The Shadow of What Was Lost by James Islington (Orbit £16.99)

The Shadow of What Was Lost

by James Islington (Orbit £16.99)

This is a relentless juggernaut of a book with multiple sub-plots turning like cogs to push the monster forwards.

Three main characters — Davian, Wirr and Asha — start off as fellow students at an academy for the Gifted.

They are blessed, or cursed, with the ability to control Essence: blessed because they have special powers, cursed because this makes them objects of suspicion.

But trouble is brewing in the North as ancient enemies arise and the world is faced with a stark choice: can the Gifted be trusted to use their powers without throwing off their shackles?

Astoundingly intricate world-building and what feels like a cast of thousands meant this reader got a bit lost at times and enjoyed the story most when the narrative gears were fully engaged.